The Associated Press reports that Dollar General Corp. of Tennessee has sued Fred’s for violating it’s intellectual property rights. Included in the charges are false advertising, unfair competition, violation of trademark and violation of trade dress.

The suit accuses Fred’s of “unlawfully and deceptively” using Dollar General’s blue and yellow color scheme and typeface in a new advertising campaign.

Dollar General is seeking an order to stop Fred’s from using the same blue and yellow colors and stylized letters used by Dollar General. The request also seeks for the destruction of Fred’s marketing materials that use colors and letters similar to Dollar General’s.

While the names of these two retailers are dissimilar, the issue of the suit, trade dress, is one that frequently comes up in the marketplace.

Dollar General is correct in trying to prevent Fred’s use of the Blue and Yellow color scheme. Dollar General knows how consumers think. Often, a sign displayed on a highway, or an advertisement glimpsed in a weekly mailer is remembered because of the unique design or color combination – not because of the words.

Here, both stores target the same class of customers. It is easy for such customers to confuse two marks that appear in a similar way, meaning, the same colors and the same lettering.

If DOLLAR GENERAL has benefited from their unique trademark, it is right for them to suspect others from wanting to copy it, and benefit from the resulting confusion.

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